Graphical Construction Glossary >> Roofs and roofing. >> Roof Coverings >> wood shakes, shingles

wood Shakes, Shingles

A roof covering made out of small wooden pieces lapped in a similar manner to roof slates.

Wooden or timber shingles or shakes can be described as a vernacular roofing material. That is they can be seen as coming from a time and a place where people just went out and made roofs out of what was available close at hand.

Shakes are cheap. They can made out of timber that is hardly useful for anything else. They can be made and fixed by unskilled labour.

Shakes are rarely used today apart from garden gazebos etc. because of their one main drawback which is a very low fire rating! Too low for most regulations.

They also have a finite life span and as they age they seem to attract vermin. Modern timber treatments help this and the fire rating of course.

Badly weathered and hardly performing their task any more these shakes will have to be replaced soon.

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"What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?
Adam Smith 1723-1790

"When we build, let us think that we build for ever."John Ruskin 1819-1900